We live on our sailboat and have been sailing through and diving in the waters of Raja Ampat for the past couple of months. We went out for a dive today at "Blue Magic", a blue water seamount a couple of miles away from the nearest land. We had 4 divers in two small dinghies and the current was ripping along at 3+ knots when we got out to the site. Reading in the guidebook that the liveaboards often put a temporary mooring line down to assist divers getting down and back up, we decided to quickly take down and set a small dingy anchor that would hold the boats while we were down. After carefully hooking the anchor on some bare rock, we all hunkered down to take shelter from the current while watching the fish swarm about. About 5 minutes later a group of divers from a local liveaboard, MV Blue Dragon swam by. The divemaster (someone who we believe is named Alvin), starting gesticulating at one of the folks in our group. After a minute it became clear he was upset about the fact that we had anchored. It seemed he was worried about the possibility of a manta ray running into the rope anchor line. We tried to indicate that we were sorry, but there wasn't too much to be done at that time. He then pulled out his dive knife and indicated he was going to cut the anchor line- allowing our only means of safely getting back home to drift away in the 3 knot current. Not wanting to have an altercation underwater, I tried to indicate to "wait a minute" and then tried to get the attention of the other divers to let them know we needed to leave. While my back was turned, Alvin cut the line and it was only a lucky grab from one of our other divers that kept the boats from being swept away. We quickly grabbed the remaining line and anchor and released from the reef, making a blue water ascent in the fast current. Total time from Alvin showing up on scene until cutting our line was probably less than 2 minutes. I understand wanting to protect Mantas, but to put the lives of 4 divers at risk and destroy property to do so is absolutely irresponsible. After surfacing, we approached the liveaboard and discussed the situation with the captain. He seemed unconcerned and said to file a report with the police if we wanted.
Anyway, definitely get out and dive Raja Ampat- it is truly spectacular. Just beware of who you do it with!
Cheers- Matt
Anyway, definitely get out and dive Raja Ampat- it is truly spectacular. Just beware of who you do it with!
Cheers- Matt